Thursday, 28th June 2012
Microenterprise Loan Fund will provide shot in the arm for small business sector
Fine Gael TD for Wicklow and East Carlow, Andrew Doyle, has welcomed the Microenterprise Loan Fund Bill 2012, saying it is vital for our small business sector which, up to this point, has been significantly hindered by an inability to access credit. The Microfinance Loan Fund which is being developed by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, will allocate €10 million as seed capital for small business owners.
“I welcome this Bill because I believe it will provide a shot in the arm to our small business sector which up to this point has been starved of credit. In doing so it will help generate cashflow and help improve local economies throughout Ireland.
“Finance, or more to the point, the lack of it, is the key issue for small businesses owners. I am regularly in touch with people who run small businesses and the recurring problem that they relay to me is of an extreme difficulty in accessing credit.
“This Bill will greatly help to alleviate this situation. The Fund will provide loans of up to €25k to start-up, newly established, or growing microenterprises employing less than 10 people. This will facilitate job creation and retention across the economy in all microenterprises with commercially viable proposals that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by the banks.
“The creation of this fund will be welcomed by businesses people throughout the country. This is not meant to be a crutch for ailing businesses, nor is it a grant. It is targeted at commercially viable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which display a repayment capacity for additional credit facilities, but that cannot secure credit facilities under current conditions
“A Teagasc report said that there are 52 individual local economies in the country. Small businesses are crucial to the health of these local economies and credit is vital in order for small businesses to survive and thrive.
“I believe this Fund will result in benefits for the local economy but also for the State in the form of job creation and increased exchequer revenue. I wish those who apply for the Fund much success.”